Every now and then, a book comes along that you cannot simply close and put back on the shelf. You finish the last page, but you carry it with you for days afterwards. You think about it while making a cup of tea. You find yourself looking at your own dogs a little longer, stroking their heads and feeling grateful that they are safe.
Tina was one of those books for me.
It had me in tears. Sometimes because I was heartbroken by what Tina had endured, and sometimes because of the love she found afterwards. Niall Harbison tells the story of a golden retriever he found chained up and suffering in Thailand. He brought her to safety and named her Tina. Although she had been treated so badly, she still had love to give.
That is the part I keep coming back to.
Tina deserved a lifetime of kindness. She had only six months with Niall and the Happy Doggo team before she died, and knowing that broke my heart all over again. Yet those six months mattered. She knew care, freedom and the feeling of being wanted. She was loved fiercely, and she has left behind something extraordinary.
Niall’s story moved me too. He writes about his own struggles and the purpose he found in caring for street dogs. There is something deeply human in the way a person and a dog can arrive in each other’s lives when both need gentleness. Tina could not know how many lives would one day be touched because Niall stopped for her. Niall could not have known it either.
I follow him on Instagram and YouTube, so reading Tina felt different from picking up a story about someone I had never heard of. I have watched Niall and his team go out day after day to feed dogs, care for the sick and give frightened animals another chance. I have seen the faces behind the work and the dogs who are at the heart of it. What they do is absolutely outstanding. Niall is a pretty special man, and he has gathered a team with hearts every bit as determined as his own.
Their work on Koh Samui has grown into Happy Doggo Land, with food, care and a safe place for dogs who need more help. Now they are building Tina’s Hospital, so street dogs and dogs from local families who cannot afford treatment can receive the medical care they need. It is such a beautiful way to honour her. A dog who once needed someone to come for her will help make sure someone comes for others.
This September, Niall took on a sponsored challenge to help finish the hospital: running five kilometres every hour for twenty-four hours. Supporters joined in with challenges of their own, and the fundraising passed $1.5 million. I loved seeing rescued dogs who now have homes helping in their own little ways too, with their families cheering them on. Every effort felt like another paw print on the path towards Tina’s hospital.
I think that is part of why this book affected me so much. It left me feeling that love can keep moving, even after we have had to say goodbye. Tina is gone, and that is terribly sad. But her name is being spoken by people all over the world. Dogs who will never meet her may receive help because she was here.
Niall and the rescue dogs inspired me so much that I even wrote lyrics to a song about the rescue. Writing is often how I make sense of something that has touched my heart, and this was a story I wanted to put into music. You can listen to the song here.
Niall has inspired a dream in me too.
One day, I would love to open my own dog rescue. It is a big dream, and I do not know what shape it might take or how long it will take me to get there. But Tina made me feel that it is all right to begin with the care I can give now.
In just over a month, we are going to visit a dog rescue in Cape Verde and help out for the day. I know one day cannot solve everything. I also know how much work goes into caring for dogs when nobody is watching: preparing food, cleaning, comforting, noticing when one of them is unwell, and returning to do it all again tomorrow. I am looking forward to meeting the people and dogs there, listening, and doing whatever they need help with that day.
I will be thinking of Tina when we go.
I will probably think of my own two at home as well, safe and loved, with no idea how lucky they are. And I will think of all the dogs still waiting for somebody to see them.
If you love dogs, Tina may make you cry. It certainly made me cry. But I am glad I read it. Tina’s story hurt my heart and filled it at the same time. It reminded me that the life of one dog is never a small thing to the people who love her, and that sometimes the love we give one animal reaches further than we could ever imagine.
Thank you, Tina, for letting Niall love you.
And thank you, Niall and everyone at Happy Doggo, for continuing to share that love with the dogs who need you.
Until next time, 
Toodle pip, 
Lainey.